Sunday, April 30, 2006

I woke up this morning on the right side of the bed. My iHome didn't know it was s'firah and it woke me up to a great song. I jumped out of bed and sang the entire morning.I decided that because it was Sunday, I didn't have to bother getting all dressed up. I wore a black skirt and blue oxford shirt to school today. Oh, and my Aerosoles, the "Sew Cute" pair. I looked just right for my age, not a day older than 12.My co was so not in my nutty mood today. There was a substitute in school today for the first time and she couldn't stop staring at me dancing. I was singing in the teacher's room because I was so excited that the day was almost over. This mind you, was before I had even walked into class.Class was pretty ok too. I managed to get most of my lesson done, but then, just as I was finishing, the principal came in to talk to the class.It seems that there was an attempted rape in my neighborhood and the police were sending out bulletins on how to keep safe. Now, you can't really explain to a seventh grade class what a rapist is, but the principal gave very clear instructions on how to stay safe.R.H. looked at her watch and noticed that this was a perfect opportunity to waste time, so she did. And so did the rest of the class.The principal also spoke about treating R.S. nicely when she came back. I'm assuming she'll be back tomorrow. I hope it all turns out well.I asked the principal to do this speech in the other class after recess when I was there because I had way too much time there and I had no idea what to do with it.I tired to finish up history, but it wasn't happening at all. I'm giving a test on Wednesday, they had better know this stuff by then.I told the classes about the time a teacher of mine had challenged every girl to write the word million a million times. If any girl had been able to accomplish it, she'd have gotten a year of free tests. Of course no one had manged to do it, and it just proved to us what a huge number a million was. The girls seemd very into my story. I think they just wanted to waste class time.During recess I was nuts. The eighth graders kept coming to the door for their teacher and I told them she's be available about next year.I resumed my dancing and singing, and tried to get my co into a good mood.Finally, when the end of recess bell rang, I ran out of the room and slammed right into the principal. I was so mortified, but then my co got up from the table and pushed it away from her. Then she realized that the principal was there. She was even more embarrassed than I was.We both came into class laughing away.The girls could not figure out what was wrong with me. I was so jumpy. I think I forgot to take my Ritalin this morning. J/KI also tried convincing my co to leave the school and come with me to a new one. I need to have a co like her along. What if I get stuck with someone weird? I'm trying to bribe her into going to this new school (where I don't even have a job yet!). I told her I'd get a car and drive her everyday. (I don't even believe that yet myself!)Anyway, the day was over soon enough, and I managed to create a test in a very short amount of time. It took only 2 1/2 hours. Then I had to prepare history. Only 5 more lessons left to do!!! I'm dreading getting an eighth grade job and having to prepare all over again. Oh well.I am totally bouncing off the walls, I think I might have had too much sugar in my rice crispies. Well, at least I had a good day!

Friday, April 28, 2006

I just got a call from the new school. We arranged a model lesson for Tuesday of this week. That means that either I have to find a sub, or my co, (who is probably reading this now) will take over for me first period.I'm very nervous, and the principal still has to call me back about the history lesson I have to prepare.What a way to kill my Shabbos. I will begin obsessing about this approximately.....NOW!P.S. If you would like to hear what my co has to say about tutoring C.O. yesterday, read the comment she left on "Exhausting Day."

Thursday, April 27, 2006

The day started pretty early as far as my mornings usually go. I had to get to my interview by 9:45. The school was in "yehupitzville," another way of saying "in a tiny little corner of the other end of the world."I took a car service and paid him half my salary to get me there. The 20 minute trip cost t me $12. I know how to drive, but my husband takes the car every day, so I'm pretty much stuck as far as transportation goes.I found the school easily and met with the principal.I got a little bit of a down feeling talking to her, although she seemed very nice. I'm not going to kid myself. From talking to this principal, I could immediately tell that her school was no less pressuring than mine.Pressuring is not really the word. I'm trying to say that this school and my school both like to incorporate many new systems in their classrooms all the time. I'm sort of trying to get away from all that, but there are other issues in my school as well. I guess that if this is the only problem I have so far, that's pretty good.We spoke about what I taught, also about why I wanted to leave the school I was in, and aboutsetting up a model lesson for me.I was honest with her and told her that I was very nervous for the model lesson as one lesson infront of a strange classroom could not compare to what I could to with my students.She understood, but this is protocol, and we agreed to speak later about setting up a lesson.Then, I took the city bus back home. It took me a full hour to get back to my end of the world.That's another thing that bugs me. If I do get this job, I'm not sure I want to travel an hour each way every day.I'm pretty spoiled as things are now. I roll out of bed, down the block, and into class. I'm too much of a J.A.P. to actually sit on and transfer to city buses just to go to work. My husband isn't at all interested in this. He's dying for me to come to work for him. (He definitely pays more!)Yesterday, we had the funniest conversation. It seemed funny, because I was very down and nervous about the interview and about a job for next year. I was depressed about the whole thing and for the money I'’m making, it'’s not worth it. I asked my husband if I should just opt out of this business, and he told me that I had better go to that interview today.We had heard that this school paid well, and my husband told me with a serious face that he wanted me to get accepted here and make at least $18,000 a year. That would be enough to just cover our rent. "Living expenses I can handle," he said, "it's the rent that kills me."Anyway, I need to think about this a lot more, although the principal already called my principal, and she told me that it seemed very optimistic. The new principal made it sound like she was impressed with me and wanted to give me a job.....I WISH! The job we're talking about by the way is seventh and eighth grade English and history. It means preparing all over for the eighth grade. I just don't know right now.The classes managed to finish a nice amount of history, and even a chapter in literature. Hopefully, we can finish this book next week. The 7b class is so nutsy these days, I'm just losing it. I'm lost to the extent of having to send L.K. out today, acting very strict, and even calling the principal in to observe the class. (!) Yes, I actually asked her to come in. At this point I could no longer control them.I was dead tired from my interview and bus rides in the a.m. and this was my second class for the day, and I still was going to the twelfth grade.I gave them a chapter to read for homework and C.S.A. exploded like hot lava. I ignored it all, but it irks me. I used to think so highly of the kid, and now I can't stand her babyishness. The truth is, she is a year younger than the rest of the class. The class very much matured over Pesach, and she stayed the same if she didn't become more babyish. I'm assuming this has something to do with the age and not the grade. Maybe she'll only mature next year. I sure hope so for her teacher's sake.The principal spoke to both my co and I about G.S. It seems that since she's switched classes, she's been feeling a little lost and left out by her teachers. We only noticed her so much before, becuase we had to give her negative attention. Now that she's so good, it's hard to notice her. I tried hard to pay more attention to her in class today, and I gave her kudos for getting an answer right. Her face lit up. I was shocked at how such a small thing could make such a big difference.Twelfth grade was realxing, I just proctored them during an economics test. The kids were killing themselves over this stuff, and I knew it in my dreams. It helps when your husband does this for a livng. The girls were shocked when I was able to explain to them what questions they had gotten wrong. Maybe my husband's right, Maybe I should work for him!My co went to tutor C.O. today. I wonder how it went.S.G.L. decided to find out more about me, and she told my co that I went to this elementary school as a kid. She was pretty wrong, although my uniform shirt as a child happened to have been the same color as this school's. Oh well, better luck on her next guess.

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

I spent all morning looking for a new job. Other schools are not very accommodating. The principals don't come in until 12, and that's when I have to go teach. I don't understand how teachers manage to switch schools. You have to be in two places at once to accomplish all that.I went up to the principal today to show her a DVD that I thought the classes should see. It's called Paper Clips by marimax films. It's a documentary of the class in Whitehall, Tennessee that collected 6 million paper clips for the 6 million Jews that perished in the Holocaust.The principal and I spoke about it for a while and then she said that she'd look into it.She then asked me how my job search was going. I told her I was frustrated, and she said that she would let me have time off from school to go to interviews if I needed to. She said that I should definitely use her as a reference.I walked out a bit confused, and still a little down about my no-job situation.The big class today was so fantastic. They managed to learn one aim in history, and one entire chapter in their literature books. And the still had time to daven mincha and take a spelling test.The other class was full of stupid questions and stories, and even with 5 girls absent, it didn't get better. The girls absent were the wring ones. Now, if L.K., R.H., L.O., C.K., and maybe one more were gone, my day would have been a breeze.In the end, we're about 3 pages behind in literature. I'm keeping my hopes high of getting them even tomorrow.This happened yesterday, but I forgot to put it in. I told the girls that they couldn't come to my class with their shirts untucked even though it was very hot outside.L.O. was upset, saying that tucking her shirt in made her look fat.I laughed and said that they couldn't talk about fat in front of their teachers. "Because when you say 'Oh my gosh!! I'm 85 lbs, I'm a fat pig!!' Imagine what your teacher feels like!"R.H. piped up and said, "Oh, c'mon Mrs. Teacher, you aren't even 85 lbs so you can't talk!"I gave it to her on the head. Can you now understand why I wish these kids were absent?

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Two of my issues from yesterday carried over to today.R.S. was still absent and S.G.L. and M.R. took their fighting to the next level.I spoke to the principal today after a meeting we had about the picture books about R.S. R.S. had been absent for three days now, and the teachers are concerned, if not more than a little curious. I asked the principal if I could call her, and the principal told me what was going on. She had suspended R.S. for the week.I think it's the smartest thing she's done all year. One thing I did not agree with, she mentioned my history review and that it was a big pressure for the girls. Before Pesach she had been all for it, all of a sudden when a kid explodes, she found me to blame it all on. Peachy.Talking of eruptions, C.S.A. has been having a tad too many lately. She's an anxious kid in general, but recently she's been blowing up over minor things. If she's doing it for attention she's got to be stopped, and if this is for real, she's got to be helped. Either way, this has got to end.I spoke to S.G.L. (who by the way, only decided to grace us with her presence during English, and not Hebrew) and spoke with her about her post it notes.She told me that it was M.R. her self that had told her that she had spread her secrets. I assured S.G.L. that M.R. probably said it just to make her angry. I told S.G.L. that this was all a part of life. Friendships break up every so often, and sometimes secrets get spilled along with them. I told her that she was lucky she had a friend now, and that she should stop focusing on M.R.I spoke with the principal about which camp S.G.L. wanted to go to, and she said she'd make a call. We're both more worried for M.R. than for S.G.L. at this point.It seems that M.R.'s mother is involved in this mess, and M.R. is suffering terribly from the entire thing. We agreed that if M.R. should bring up the topic of the fight to my co or I again, we would tell the principal and make arrangements to call her mother.I gave a double session of computers today. The first 20 minutes were for a math review, and the rest of the time they did their picture book.That meant that half my girls were roaming the halls. C.O. and S.G.L. were harassing M.R. and spending quality time together in the bathroom.I'm not going to get into the stupidities of their seventh grade fight, but the two were yelling at each other by the end of the day, and M.R. left in tears. My co and I are not impressed by all the attention seeking going on in our classrooms.Anyway, my paycheck got lost, but then it was found in the high school office.And I got a call back from a school I applied to before Pesach. I have a meeting there Thursday morning. Wish me luck!

Monday, April 24, 2006

Today was awesome. I don't know why, but today turned out great.I taught the 7a class first, and they were total angels. We got an entire aim in history done and they didn't even freak when I told them that their picture books were due Monday.I didn't ask the principal when the books were due, I just made it up. I need to get this project over with. And so do the girls.7b was a little more rowdy than 7a, but totally manageable. Such a relief.R.S. wasn't back in school yet, and we're all wondering why. I heard that it's because her house is flying; they had all their siblings in from Israel for Yom Tov. I don't believe it because her sister was in school today and yesterday. But we're still not sure. My co said that if R.S. isn't in school by tomorrow, she'll ask the principal if she can call her.We're all a little nervous about how things are going to turn out.I had a small issue with my index cards today. M.R. gave me one that said, "Do you think I am right for splitting up from S.G.L.?"I didn't hesitate to answer her. "You did what you had to do. In life everyone has to make some hard decisions. Not always will everyone agree with what you do. You have to do what you think is right."Then, I got a note from S.G.L. It said, "M.R. and S.G.L. And one day M.R. comes to school and I realized that she left me. We were friends for 2 1/2 years already, and then she drops me. She doesn't look at or talk at me. She's so mean, because whoever she's friends with she drops them, we know for a fact because she was 5 girls' friends, C.O., G.S., me, E.S., R.H., guess what? She them all, now everyone knows that she drops everybody who she's friends with. So nobody will want to be her friend. Another thing she did to me; after she left me she told me that I can't say any of her secrets. So I said fine, and I didn't. She promised me that she won't either say any of my secrets and she did. She told everything about me to a few people.""Not only does she drop me, she's making me crazy. If she doesn't want to be my friend, she doesn't' t have to, but why does she have to act like that to me? Every time I look at her she stares at me."Now I have a big problem because of her leaving me. Because now I have to be on a waiting list for camp, because we made plans for the summer already to of together. Now we can't. So I'm left to go to camp and there's no room unless there are backouts."That was her index card. Actually, it was 3 post-it notes.I asked her if I could take time to answer it. She seemed thrilled with all the special attention, and didn't mind. She just gave me another note asking me not to tell M.R., M.R's mother, or her other. I was allowed to tell my family though. She seriously said that. LOLI spoke to the principal and I told her that I didn't believe that M.R. was saying secrets about S.G.L. She was too good for that, and besides, she had no one to tell them to. The principal told me to talk to S.G.L. and find out where this was all coming from. It was normal for S.G.L. to feel that M.R. betrayed her, but she needed proof of whom M.R. told. Otherwise, she shouldn't be telling this all to me.I also told her about her camp situation. I found out that she was trying to go to a certain camp, and I asked the principal to make a phone call to get her in. She needs it badly.My co and I just figured out that S.G.L. is beginning to tag on to me because of her new friendship with C.O., who was my neighbor. C.O. and my fourth grade sister all of a sudden became the "best of friends." I wonder why.C.O. is just trying to get close to me. What? These seventh graders really think they can fool us? C'mon.Now that C.O. is all into me, and because of that, S.G.L. sort of let go of my co and is getting all into me too. My co is relieved and I'm ready to quit. I have to talk to S.G.L. but I have no idea what I'm going to tell her, and I really don't want to get involved in her messes.Anyway, back to my title, I taught about methods of transportation during the 1800's today. One of the parts of my lesson involved Robert Fulton, the creator of the steam engine. When people had heard his idea for a steamboat, they thought he was crazy. His idea was called "Fulton's Folly." The word folly is very similar to my name, and I was dreading this lesson all year. I knew the girls would have something to laugh about as soon as I said the word folly.I played it cool though. I laughed with them, and told the girls about how it was when I was a student and my classmates would always make fun of me even though my name didn't mean the same thing as folly and it wasn't even spelled the same way.The girls got a kick out of it, and I breathed a sigh of relief. But at least I know that my students will never forget this lesson. They learned Fulton's Folly, they'll learn Seward's Folly, and they love their Teacher's Folly!

Saturday, April 22, 2006

Ok, it's the last night of Pesach vacation. My co and I are arguing over who is more depressed.Pesach was long, and it was the best thing for my frazzled nerves. I relaxed, ate matzah, slept, ate matzah, enjoyed myself, at matzah, and basically, ate more matzah. Notice that I did not mention anything about school in all of this.I had to get two emergency fix-ups in my mouth. I needed a root canal after all, and then I needed to finish up my other botch-ups. I still have to go back, and let's hope that'll be the end of dentists for a very long time.I met a bunch of students over vacation. They all seemed thrilled to see me, except for T.K. of course.I spent some time looking through the review sheets the girls had given me hell over, and they didn't do so bad. It was the "attitude" cases that didn't bother to fill in a word. Namely T.K., C.K., and S.G.L. R.R. was pretty bad too. I have zero patience coming back to school.I cannot go into class tomorrow and pick up where I left off. I already made up my mind to forget about chapter ten in history. I'm not going to give their sheets back, and I won't make an issue of it. I will give them a lot more homework in their books though. They are totally not comfortable with reading a textbook. That has to change.I don't believe that I will finish my curriculum in history this year. Whether it's my fault for going too slow at the beginning of the year, or the school's fault for assigning too much, it doesn't matter. It's not getting done. I refuse to feel guilty for all of it. $6,000 isn't near enough money to guilt me into a nervous breakdown.Literature? Forget about it. If I ever finish this Early Thunder piece, I will have to make a seudas hoda'ah. I'm not even aiming to get any other literature done. I just want to get this off my head.And the picture book? You know how I feel about that!My co told me that at this time of the year the kids have no patience either. I'm still a kid myself, I know that better than anyone. I need to give them more homework though. Journal entries, spelling definitions, history questions...they have to become more responsible.What is it? 8 weeks left to school? I should just start a countdown on this blog. I'm more excited for summer vaca than the kids are.And a new job? I'm more than just depressed. I have no idea how to get a new teaching job, where I want to go teach, and when I'm going to have time to pursue it all. I want to get another seventh grade job because I really don't want to prepare all over again. I know that being picky isn't a good thing, but it worked for me last year. If any of my readers have connections with a good girl's school out there that's not chassidish, pays decent, and treats their teachers well, can you please recommend me? I'm davening hard and keeping my fingers crossed.

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Today was supposed to be a babysitting day. It was the last day before Pesach vacation for the seventh grade and I planned a very light day. I had planned on giving the girls time to do their picture books, and then I prepared an open-notes history review. I didn't tell them about it, because I didn't want them to study. It wasn't even going to be marked as a test.But my plans were ruined.The Hebrew principal's father passed away, and she was sitting shiva. The school arranged for the students to go and visit her. Believe it or not, it snowed today, in the middle of April! I was panicking about having to walk out in the snow and slush, but the school finally arranged a bus to take us to where the Hebrew principal was sitting shiva.It was a little uncomfortable for the girls to sit with her, but they handled it very nicely.S.G.L. was back in school after playing hooky for 3 days, and the principal gave her some extra special attention.When we came back to school, I did current events for 10 minutes while my co read an article to the other class. We switched off until recess.After recess, I gave both classes my review.The 7a class was slightly upset, but the 7b class was furious. They were so bad, they didn't even let my co give out the papers.I went into the class, told them to shut up, and gave them out. I threatened to mark the papers as a test if they didn't cooperate, and they got even edgier.T.K. burst into tears, so I sent her out so I could talk to her privately.As I went into the hallway, I met the principal. She was coming into the class to give out the honor roll certificates. I stopped her and explained the situation in the classroom. She was pretty upset. She went in and spoke to them while I dealt with T.K. outside. I sent T.K. in after she washed the floor with me, and then I walked in to hear what the principal was saying.She was telling the class that this was classwork and that I had every right to give it to them. She actually stuck up for me.R.S. was telling her that whenever she took tests she became stressed and that her mother didn't want her that way."Well I know you mother pretty well," the principal said, "and I know that she wouldn't like your tone of voice either."R.S. then crumpled up her paper and threw it at the principal. She kept throwing paper after paper and then she began screaming at the principal. "Everything is an assignment. Your stupid picture book is a stupid assignment, it's not! It's a project! You all lie to us, and you put us under so much pressure!"The principal tried calming her down, but by this time the class was involved, some girls were laughing, others were scared.At that time, R.S. yelled, "I hate you! Get out of here! I never want to see you and your stupid ugly suit again!" She grabbed the principal by the hand and twisted her wrist. I took the initiative to send the class to the other classroom to continue their tests.As the class filed out, the principal acme over to me and asked me to have the secretary call R.S.'s mother. R.S. came up behind the principal and grabbed her by the jacket and shook and pulled her. I settled the class in the 7a classroom, and had the secretary call Mrs. R.S.The secretary wanted to know whether the mother should one down to school, and I went back to the room to ask the principal.You were able to hear R.S. screaming down the hallway. She was yelling at the principal to leave her alone and to leave the classroom. She kept screaming, "I let go of you, now get out!" She threw books across the room as she continued to yell.When the principal kept trying to talk to her, R.S. began hitting her.The principal left the room to talk to me, and then she asked me to watch R.S. to make sure she didn't hurt herself. R.S. stood blocking the door and I stood outside in the hallway.I switched off with my co so that I could answer some questions the girls had, and they were more than a little wacky because of the event that was taking place.The principal came in later and spoke to the girls to explain to them the situation, and to tell them not to judge their friend for having a temper problem. I thought that was very good of her.She also calmed down the girls by telling them again that classwork was totally fine, and that I would be very lenient in marking them.About a half hour to dismissal, I asked the girls to pass up their papers even though they weren't finished. R.H. put up a huge fuss, and I almost had a panic attack as well.I finally got them all together, and had them all clean up their desks and put away their books for Pesach.While the girls were busy, a few of them crowded around my desk to talk. I didn't mind, and we had a good talk on what to do when the class gets rowdy. They all agreed that as soon as I said that they were too rowdy they would stop. They didn't want me to get strict with them.They also asked me to move up to 8th grade with them. LOLC.K. wanted to know why I only called on certain girls all the time. I explained to her that it was the girls that constantly contributed to the lesson that I wanted to hear from. If C.K. didn't add to my lesson, she certainly shouldn't feel like I was obligated to call on her every time she raised her hand.Anyway, The girls mainly left happy, and my co and I spent time in the teacher's room talking about R.S.'s incident, and then my co put two and two together. "Is R.S. the girl that wrote on her index card that she went to anger management classes after school?"My co is good!I am so shocked at the whole incident. I knew she had a problem, but to come out like this? It bowls me over.S.G.L. was finally in school and really acting weird. She began this thing again where she kept turning around and facing backwards when the teacher was in class. She was on the steps today when I walked upstairs, and when she saw me, she gave a little shriek and made a show of running up the stairs and "escaping" from me. Her new friend C.O. was downstairs laughing at the whole thing. It just got me nervous.My co had to tutor her after school, I'm just glad it's not me...And I'm more than glad that Pesach vacation is here, which means that I don't have to go back to school until April 23.Ahhhhhh....Relief!

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

My sister came to visit school today. I was supposed to have computers for an hour and a half straight and that would've been a perfect time for her to drop in.Knowing this school and my luck, nothing ever turns out perfect. Computers was pushed off at the last minute. It seems that every teacher is anxious to finish their picture books before Pesach, and computers was over booked. I try to be good, so I let my slot be pushed to after recess.My sister had already left the house, and she was actually in the school building by the time the schedule was fixed. She ended up sitting in my class (7b) while I tried to teach a bit of literature.Of course, they were all jumpy and annoyed at the schedule mess-up and my sister was shocked at their behavior. I was just embarrassed.Of all days, the principal chose this one to walk into my class uninvited. She noticed my sister sitting in the back, and saw it fit to challenge me in front of my own students."Who is this?" She asked.I played it cool. "Oh she's my sister. She got bored with peeling potatoes, so she came to visit. We were supposed to have computers so it wouldn't have been a problem, but the system was messed up so it turned out wrong." I tried to make it seem like it was the school's fault everything was wrong in my life.I mean, that's what she does to me. She blames me for all her problems...She didn't say anything else, but I had the feeling that this wasn't the end of it all. I hopes I could get just as far as Pesach and then hopefully she'd forget over vacation.The other class was jealous that my sister didn't sit in their class, but she did pop in while they were at computers. Then, being the good girl that she is, my sister had to go back home to peel apples. You can tell we're very different. LOLThis day was a huge mess, and I'm counting down the hours until school is out.I realize that I'll be leaving for Pesach with a bunch of unfinished projects. The picture book is nowhere near done, and neither is literature. I'm kinda stressed, but I'm working on not letting the pressure get to me.One more afternoon and then....LIBERA!!

Monday, April 03, 2006

I was up until 5 last night.My nephew got married and the wedding ended really late last night. (Or really early this morning depending on how you look at it!)I had arranged with my sister to sub for me in case I'd be too tired to teach today. She was a little hesitant, and I felt bad making her go if she didn't want to, so I got up to teach today.It turned out that the girls had scrapbooking again today, and that took care of 45 minutes n each class. The other 45 minutes were spent finishing chapter 10 min history, and that was my entire day.I'm sure there must have been more to it, but I'm too tired to remember all of it.I called my sister up to tell her what an easy day it was, and she agreed to sub for me tomorrow if I needed her. Remember the dentist appointment last week? Well, it turns out they botched me up. I spent the past 4 days on Advil, and I made an emergency appointment for tomorrow morning. Hope that works out well....And if it doesn't I (hope) I can rely on my sister!My husband and I were invited to the sheva berachos tonight, and I had better take a nap if I want to function tomorrow.

Sunday, April 02, 2006

We moved the clock last night, so it meant one less hour of sleep for me. Considering that I went to bed at 2, which turned out to be 3, and had to wake up at 7, that really didn't leave me a lot of zzzz time.School wasn't so bad. We spent the entire morning collating the paper. We had problems with our stapler, but in the end it turned out fine. I really wanted the paper to be spiral bound, but so far the school didn't approve. I have to keep working on it.I was missing 5 girls in one class and 3 in the other. We always have kids coming late on Sunday, but now, because we moved the clock, we had more than our usual share.The teachers are trying to convince the principal to cancer school on the Sunday after Pesach. No other school begins on Sunday. And we teachers do not want to get out of bed that early.We'll keep trying!